Lesser Known Parks near Flagstaff, Sept. 2 - 5, 2020

Most people think of the Grand Canyon when they think of Arizona - in fact, Arizona is often referred to as the Grand Canyon State.  Grand Canyon National Park is about 90 minutes from our home in Flagstaff.  Closer to us are three national monuments, Walnut Canyon, Sunset Crater and Wupatki.  We are also within 90 minutes of Tuzigoot, Montezuma's Castle and Montezuma's Well, three more national monuments.  But there are local and state parks, and Coconino National Forest trails that are always much less crowded and often just as nice as the big name parks.

On Wednesday, Sept. 2, we visited Picture Canyon Natural and Cultural Preserve - this was our fourth or fifth visit.  It has a nice 4.5 mile trail that circumnavigates the park.  It is a city park with nice trails.  After passing a historical site and a waterfall, we came by this area where rain had caused a tree to slide down the hill.

With the recent rains, there are still many wildflowers in bloom.

There are also many interesting downed trees and snags.  This tree makes a bridge over a small stream.

The park is called Picture Canyon because there are many petroglyphs on the cliffs.

On Friday, Sept. 4, we went another city park, Buffalo Park.  We have hiked there many times.  This time, we hiked through the park and out to the north side where Lower Oldham Trail leaves the park.  We followed an unnamed trail along one of the buried natural gas pipelines, and it took us down a large hillside.  After a bit more than a half mile we came to an intersecting gas pipeline and this trail is named and designated as Pipeline Trail.  We followed it and then went onto an unnamed parallel trail that was in the woods next to some cliffs that have been used for rock climbing.  We eventually reached the Lower Oldham Trail where we took a break, then back to and through Buffalo Park for a pleasant 3.8 mile hike.

On Saturday, Sept. 5, we made our first visit to Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Trail.  It is 20 miles northwest of Flagstaff and we loved it.  We were one of only three cars there - one lady was painting a picture of nature, and there was one other group of three people.  The park includes a quarter mile paved loop that is handicap accessible.  The other trail is a 1.5 mile loop and is flat and easy to hike.  And they have excellent educational signage there.

We saw many birds, including stellar jays.

We learned a little about the history of the area.

We did not see any large animals, but we could see the damage from the 1996 Horseshoe Fire in the photo above (the hill with no trees, two photos up).

As the sign says, it was probably a lightning strike that damaged the tree below.

Because there are cattle and wildlife in the area, they have special fencing for a protected area for new aspen trees.

By comparison, here is an area where there are older aspen trees and pine trees that were downed to allow the aspens to grow.

Elk chew aspen tree bark and rub their antlers on the trees.  The photos below show some of those scars.

Sap suckers drill the bark of mature ponderosa pines to feed on oozing sap.  You can see the holes on the tree below.

Abert's squirrels abound here.

There are nice views of Mount Humphreys in the distance on a beautiful day.

There was a different large fire on the other side of the highway. 

When we finished, we saw that they would be having a wedding there later that afternoon.

This was a lovely park, uncrowded even on Labor Day weekend.  We shall make return visits.

Memories of a Bald Eagle from Aug. 14, 2017, posted Sept. 1, 2020

After our DBG Tuesday Docent discussion on birds last week, I was in the right place at the right time to shoot a video of a heron and share it with the Docents.  That reminded me of another time when I was in the right place at the right time - in Ketchikan, AK, visiting our daughter in 2017.  We were on the Aleutian Ballard and by pure luck, I was able to shoot this video of this majestic bald eagle.

No Heron Today, Just Ducks and Wildflowers, Saturday, August 29, 2020

Today, we did pretty much the same 4.5 mile loop passing Duck Pond as we had done Friday.  Unlike yesterday, the heron was no where to be seen.  But the ducks came to us, presumably because other humans had fed them.

While this summer has been drier than normal, the afternoon showers have helped a plethora of wildflowers to bloom.

All in all, a very pleasant Saturday morning hike.

Oh for the love of birds! Friday, August 28, 2020

This morning, Patty and I went out for hike on a loop from our home.  The Duck Pond is about a mile from our home.  This is the first time we have seen a heron there.  What a magnificent bird!

Yet Another Ten Days at Home due to Covid 19, August 18 - 27, 2020

One day, I tried going south on the Arizona Trail.  When I passed by the Duck Pond, the ducks were busy feeding and instead of the usual quick move away from me, they were busy feeding and ignored my presence.

After the Duck Pond, the trail goes uphill.  When I got to the top of the hill, this was the sign for mountain bikers who would be going down that hill.

Once past that hill, the trail was through the woods except for when crossing under the power lines.  At one point the trail crosses where they have recently put in an underground natural gas pipeline.

Because I was in the Coconino National Forest, I was in the woods most of the time.  I saw these two interesting snags at one point.

This section of trail is well worn and easy to follow.  I then turned and went through an area that appeared to be recovering from a forest fire several years ago.

In my walks around the neighborhood, I am always surprised at how people think the rules do not apply to them.  In this case, parking next to the no parking sign.

The Tuesday Docents from the Desert Botanical Garden are back to meeting weekly.  This session, Louise gave a 15 minute presentation called "Eat the Desert" in which she described many of the foods that can be harvested from plants in the Sonoran Desert.  The week before, I presented on yucca plants, and this week, Yvonne and Carolyn presented "Desert Birds and Nests."  I have started recording the presentations so that other people can watch and learn from the programs.

Our townhome was built in 2007.  That was before security systems were wireless, so in both bedrooms, both hallways and the dining room, there was a wired connection in the upper corners for motion detectors and/or cameras - but no system was ever installed.  So one of my DIY projects was to remove those connections, patch the holes and paint over the patch.  Here is what a couple of them looked like.  And because the ceilings here are either nine or twelve feet high depending on the room, it meant getting up on the ladder to do this.

The one in the downstairs hallway was the most difficult to access - fortunately, one of our ladders adjusts so it can be used on stairs.

Here is the finished product for that former connection.

That is not snow, it is hail - we have had several afternoon thunderstorms and some of them included enough hail that it looked like snow - in August!

The ceiling in the stairwell is eighteen feet high, so I bought this set of three brushes with an adjustable handle that allows me to clean dust and cobwebs in all of the corners and windowsills without needing a ladder.  One attachment is for doing the ceiling fans - a big help.

Ben and Martha attended a live concert by Michael Franti and got us tee shirts that say Work Hard & Be Nice on the front and info about the concert on the back.

We have had problems with rock squirrels in our back yard; they were digging holes and attacking plants.  After catching and removing four of them, we removed the bird feeder from which birds knocked a lot of seeds on the ground - the exterminator suggested that was the attraction for the squirrels.  We kept the cages for a few more days and then we also caught a skunk.

Covid 19 numbers are down in Arizona and so the governor has allowed different businesses to start opening again.  I suspect that with k-12 schools and universities opening up, we are going to see another spike in cases.  People are tired of wearing masks, keeping socially distant and washing hands, and I predict will quickly abandon all the good things they have been doing and we will continue to have more people get sick.